Friedrich II. (Austria)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duke Friedrich II ( Babenberger family tree , around 1490, Klosterneuburg Abbey )
Heiligenkreuz Abbey , chapter house with high grave of Duke Friedrich II
Statue in the Army History Museum

Friedrich II. , Also Friedrich the arguable , (born June 15, 1211 in Wiener Neustadt ; † June 15, 1246 in the Battle of the Leitha ) comes from the Babenberg family and was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1230 to 1246 .

Life

Friedrich was the only son of Duke Leopold VI who survived his father . and Theodora Angela , a Byzantine princess.

His first marriage was to the childless Eudokia / Sophia Laskarina and the second to Agnes von Meranien . Through his marriage (1229-1243) to Agnes von Meranien , who had brought in huge areas in Carniola and the Windischen Mark and Allode around Neuburg am lower Inn as a dowry , he felt entitled to call himself Dominus Carniolae (Lord of Carniola) in 1232 . In 1243 he divorced her and kept the property on the Inn.

He was given his nickname the Arguable , not unjustly - during his reign he was constantly involved in battles with all of his neighbors - especially with Hungary , Bavaria and Bohemia . Even the Kuenringers , who had previously been loyal to the ducal house, rose up against him at the very beginning of his reign. Most dangerous, however, were his disputes with Emperor Friedrich II , who even outlawed him in 1236. During his ostracism, Vienna was a free imperial city for a few years . But he was able to stay in Wiener Neustadt . In 1239, however, there was a spectacular turn in imperial politics - Frederick became an important ally of the emperor. He negotiated with him about the elevation of Vienna to a diocese and even about the elevation of Austria (with Styria ) to a kingdom. One condition would have been that his niece Gertrud married the emperor, who was almost fifty at the time, which the girl refused. Friedrich fell in 1246 in the battle of the Leitha against the Hungarian king Béla IV ; with him the Babenbergs died out in the male line.

As the last Babenberger, Friedrich the Arguable marks a turning point in the history of Austria. In his lofty plans, not dissimilar to his later successor Rudolf IV , he was repeatedly the victim of his unsteady character.

For Friedrich the arguable, who was also a generous sponsor of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey, an impressive high grave was created in the chapter house of the monastery .

His sister Margarete and his niece Gertrud of Austria were entitled to inheritance after him (since the Privilegium Minus also provided for female succession) . Gertrud first married Vladislav of Moravia in 1246 , a son of King Wenceslas I of Bohemia. The marriage lasted only a few months, as Vladislav soon passed away. In her second marriage in 1248 she married Hermann von Baden , who, however, could not really assert himself in Austria and also died young. In 1252 she was married for the third time to Roman von Halicz , a relative of the Hungarian king. This was divorced when the duchies were awarded to Margaret. Margarete was married to Ottokar Přemysl, who was more than twenty years her junior . As a result, Austria became a field of conflict between the Přemyslids and Arpades . In this conflict, Ottokar was able to prevail for the time being.

reception

Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I of February 28, 1863, Friedrich II was added to the list of the "most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation", in whose honor and memory there was also a life-size statue in the general hall of the time newly built k. k. Hofwaffenmuseums (today: Army History Museum Vienna ) was built. The statue was created in 1870 from Carrara marble by the sculptor Josef Gasser and was dedicated by Emperor Franz Joseph himself.

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich II. (Austria)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ After a reference to Walter Kleindel: Österreich Chronik. Data on history and culture, Vienna / Heidelberg: Ueberreuter 1978, pp. 54/55, see also in the appendix / family table of the Babenberger
  2. Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 29
predecessor Office successor
Leopold VI. Duke of Austria
1230–1246
Hermann